How does a sailboat go towards the wind?

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I realize a sailboat can’t go directly at the wind (or maybe it can🤷🏽‍♂️) but for the life of me I can’t picture it going anywhere but where the wind is bowing.

Also, lets say you were in a round pond, could you sail to any point you wanted to in the pond with the wind blowing steady in one direction?

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14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

To sail into the wind, sailboard do something called tacking. This means angling the sail to catch some of the wind, alternating the side of the boat the sale is angled over, and having to sail in a zig-zag path to stay on course. In each case, 1/2 the wind power is sending ship in correct direction and 1/2 is sending it off course, hence the need to flip the sail and zig-zag to stay on course.

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